GHALEB CACHALIA: Let all views be heard
If we react to Zille’s tweets with immediate outrage, we do ourselves, and the country we are trying to build, no favours
Premier of the Western Cape Helen Zille has struck a nerve on the sensitive skin of our nation’s exposed body. Why? She did not make offensive comments about black people; nor did she diminish black suffering. She used Twitter to comment on Singapore’s stellar post-colonial achievements and recognised the infrastructural, technological and political legacy on which the country’s first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew built his economic miracle. Still, many are baying for blood. Agreed, Twitter is not the ideal medium for conducting this debate, given its restriction to 140 characters and, in her framing of the discussion, white Zille has clearly struck a black nerve. Perhaps we should examine why that nerve is so exposed, so susceptible to injury, and whether the injury derives from perception or fact. If we all react with immediate outrage, we do ourselves, and the country we are trying to build, no favours. Unless, of course, we are being pragmatic and see her comments as a potential ...
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